1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an optical power measuring apparatus, and more particularly to an optical power measuring apparatus capable of monitoring status of the optical fiber contact end face by using an optical element with specific optical reflection characteristic as well as a microscope camera module.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Traditional optical power meter can only detect the optical power passing through an optical fiber, while lacking the capability of examining the status of the fiber under measuring. However, the cleanness of the contact end face of the optical fiber under measuring would affect the transmission of an optical signal. A dirty contact end can lead to errors ranged from several dBs to several tens of dBs on measuring the optical power. Accordingly, before measuring the optical power, an optical microscope is usually employed to examine the optical fiber contact end face for identifying the cleanness thereof. The optical fiber will be inserted to and then pulled from an optical microscope for the cleanness identifying process. If the contact end is clean, then it will be inserted to the optical power meter; otherwise, the user should clean the contact end before inserting the optical fiber to the optical power meter. By this way, it is inconvenient to a user for measuring optical power due to the overhead of inserting and pulling.
In view of the inconvenience mentioned above, a need has arisen to propose an optical power measuring apparatus combined with the function of an optical microscope. When the optical fiber inserts to the apparatus of the present invention, a user can examine whether the contact end thereof is clean or dirtied. If the condition is normal, the user can easily measure the optical power can get an accurate power value. Such a convenient apparatus will help improve the development of optical communication technology.